Conductive Through-Polymer Vias for Capacitative Structures Integrated with Packaged Semiconductor Chips

ABSTRACT

An electronic system comprising an electronic body ( 301 ) with terminal pads ( 310 ) and at least one capacitor embedded in the electronic body. The capacitor including an insulating and adhesive first polymeric film ( 302 ) covering the body surface except the terminal pads; a sheet ( 320 ) of high-density capacitive elements, the first capacitor terminal being a metal foil ( 321 ) attached to film ( 302 ), the second terminal a conductive polymeric compound ( 324 ), and the insulator a dielectric skin ( 323 ). Sheet ( 320 ) has sets of via holes: the first set holes reaching metal foil  321 ), the second set holes reaching the terminals ( 310 ), and the third set holes reaching the conductive polymeric compound ( 324 ). An insulating second polymeric film ( 303 ) lining the sidewalls of the holes and planarizing the sheet surface; and metal ( 432 ) filling the via holes between the polymeric sidewalls and forming conductive traces and attachment pads on the system surface.

This application is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/668,085, filed Mar. 25, 2015, the entirety of which is incorporatedherein by reference.

FIELD

Embodiments of the invention are related in general to the field ofsemiconductor devices and processes, and more specifically to thestructure and fabrication method of electronic systems encapsulated in apackage with embedded nanometer-sized three-dimensional capacitors.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

Among the popular families of power supply circuits are the powerswitching devices for converting one DC voltage to another DC voltage,the DC/DC converters. Particularly suitable for the emerging powerdelivery requirements are the Power Blocks with two power MOS fieldeffect transistors (FETs) connected in series and coupled together by acommon switch node; such assembly is also called a half bridge. When aregulating driver and controller is added, the assembly is referred toas Power Stage or, more commonly, as Synchronous Buck Converter orVoltage Regulator. In the synchronous Buck converter, the control FETchip, also called the high-side switch, is connected between the supplyvoltage V_(IN) and the LC_(OUT) output filter, and the synchronous(sync) FET chip, also called the low side switch, is connected betweenthe LC_(OUT) output filter and ground potential. The gates of thecontrol FET chip and the sync FET chip are connected to a semiconductorchip including the circuitry for the driver of the converter and thecontroller.

For many of today's power switching devices, the chips of the powerMOSFETs and the driver and controller IC are assembled as individualcomponents. The chips are typically attached to a rectangular orsquare-shaped pad of a metallic leadframe; the pad is surrounded byleads as output terminals. This approach consumes area and increases thefootprint of the module. In another recently introduced scheme, thecontrol FET chip and the sync FET chip are assembled vertically on topof the other as a stack. In this assembly, at least one MOSFET chip isconfigured for vertical current flow; the source electrode of thecontrol FET chip is facing the drain electrode of the sync FET chip.

Among the components of electronic systems assembled on printed circuitboards are typically capacitors of various sizes. To save board spaceand reduce parasitics, these capacitors are often placed as piece partsin tight proximity to other board components such as transistors andinductors. Driven by the relentless trend to conserve board real estateand minimize parasitic electrical effects, these capacitors aresometimes placed under or on top of other components.

As an examples of an additional step to advance conservation, stackedchip power MOSFETs have recently been proposed, which integrate acapacitor into the package of the device. To increase the obtainablevalue of capacitance per area by at least one order of magnitude,capacitors have recently been demonstrated based on the concept offolding the third dimension into the area of two dimensions: Cavitiesare etched into metal boards made for instance of aluminum; the aluminumsurface in the cavities is then oxidized, and the cavities are filledwith a conductive material such as a polymeric compound. After applyingcontacts to the metal board and the conductive compound, thethree-dimensional structure can be operated as a capacitor offering highcapacitance values.

SUMMARY

Analyzing the challenges for providing miniature capacitors with highcapacitance values to semiconductor chips and electronic systems of evershrinking geometrical dimensions, applicants realized that thesecapacitors are most effective when they are thin film capacitors,integrated into the conductive network interconnecting the circuitelements, and in close proximity to active circuitry. For devicesneeding a package for protecting bonding wires, the capacitors may befully integrated into the package. For devices which can besolder-assembled without housing, the capacitors may be fully integratedinto the semiconductor chip.

Applicants further realized that the integration into conductivenetworks requires conductive vias of controlled depth through insulatingmaterials so that the capacitors can be connected to each conductivelevel of a multi-level laminated network.

Applicants solved the problem of conductive vias through insulatingpolymers when they discovered a methodology to create concurrentlypolymeric bonds to metals, refractory metals, conductive polymers, andinorganic insulators. The methodology accepts pre-fabricated sheets ofhigh density nano-capacitors, attaches the sheets to semiconductorwafers, fabricates the interconnections between capacitors and chipcircuitry at various levels of a multi-level laminate, and, if needed,forms the packages for the plurality of devices before singulating thedevices from the wafer.

The conductive through-polymer-vias of the invention are distinguishedby the absence of a problem of mismatched coefficients of thermalexpansion (which is known to plague through-silicon-vias), avoidingdevice failures due to delamination and temperature cycling.

The methodology is flexible and applicable to diverse devices with asingle semiconductor chip, as well as to devices such as power supplysystems with multiple chips. Due to the capacitors combining highcapacitance density, high operating frequency, and miniscule size, thesemiconductor devices may have small overall sizes in the low millimeterrange; they further demonstrate stability of capacitance and frequency,and exhibit high reliability in high and low temperatures and intemperature swings.

For the preferred application to power supply systems, it is a technicaladvantage that the new methodology reduces electrical parasitics byplacing the input capacitor in close proximity to the active circuitry.The reduced parasitic inductance allows an increase of switchingfrequency, which in turn allows a shrinkage of the bulky outputinductor.

It is another technical advantage that the preferred process flowenables concurrent lithography through a plurality of consecutivelyapplied polymeric compounds and a concurrent curing process of thepolymers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a circuit diagram of a power supply system including DC/DCconverter, capacitors and inductor.

FIG. 2 illustrates a simplified cross section of a power supply systemwith capacitors integrated into a packaged semiconductor body accordingto the invention.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic cross section of a portion of a semiconductorwafer with attached high-density capacitive structures and conductivethrough-polymer vias reaching conductors at three depth levels.

FIG. 4A illustrates a cross section of a portion of an exemplaryembodiment, a semiconductor body integral with high-density capacitivestructures and conductive through-polymer vias connecting body terminalpads to surface contact pads having solder ball connectors.

FIG. 4B illustrates a cross section of a portion of an exemplaryembodiment, a semiconductor body integral with high-density capacitivestructures and conductive through-polymer vias connecting body terminalpads to surface contact pads having wire ball bond connectors.

FIG. 5A depicts the process of providing a semiconductor wafer withembedded circuitry and circuitry contact pads on a wafer side.

FIG. 5B illustrates the process of laminating an insulating and adhesivefirst polymeric film across the wafer surface.

FIG. 5C shows the process of attaching a sheet of high densitycapacitive elements to the first polymeric film.

FIG. 5D depicts the process of attaching a metal foil carrying aplurality of pre-defined high density capacitive elements to the firstpolymeric film.

FIG. 6A depicts the processes of opening sets of via-holes of a firstdiameter in the sheet of FIG. 5C.

FIG. 6B illustrates the process of laminating an insulating secondpolymeric film to fill the via-holes of first diameter and to planarizethe surface of the sheet of FIG. 6A.

FIG. 6C shows the process of opening sets of through-polymer vias of asecond diameter in the second polymeric film of FIG. 6B.

FIG. 6D depicts the process of laminating an insulating second polymericfilm to fill the via-holes of first diameter and to planarize thesurface of the sheet of FIG. 5D.

FIG. 6E illustrates the process of opening sets of through-polymer viasof a second diameter in the second polymeric film of FIG. 6D.

FIG. 7A depicts the process of depositing a metal seed layer across thesurface.

FIG. 7B illustrates the process of patterning the metal seed layer.

FIG. 7C shows the process of plating metal on the patterned seed layerto fill the through-polymer vias and thicken to attachment pads andredistribution traces.

FIG. 8 illustrates the cross section of a portion of another embodiment.

FIG. 9 depicts the cross section of yet another embodiment.

FIG. 10 shows the cross section of a portion of yet another embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the circuit diagram of FIG. 1, the power supply, exemplified by thedashed outline 101, includes DC/DC converter 102, input capacitor C_(IN)(103), output capacitor C_(OUT) (104), and inductor L (105). FIG. 2illustrates an actualization of a power supply as an exemplarysilicon-in-package device 200 for board attachment with solder balls260. Device 200 is based on an embodiment of the invention. Device 200includes semiconductor body 201 in a package 202, input capacitor C_(IN)(203), output capacitor C_(OUT) (204), and inductor L (205).Semiconductor body may be a single silicon chip, or an assembly of morethan one chip. It should be stressed that more generally, body 201 maybe an electronic body, which may include an assembly of one or moresemiconductor chips, or generally may include electronic circuitry.

As the power supply of FIG. 2 shows, both capacitors are embedded withsemiconductor body 201, while the inductor 205, serving as the energystorage of the power supply circuit, is a large enough discretecomponent (typical sizes are 300 to 400 nH) to reliably function as themaintainer of a constant output voltage V_(OUT). In other embodiments,the capacitors may be embedded so that the output capacitor 204 a is onthe backside of body 201, or the input capacitor is positioned in a gapbetween the inductor and the package.

By embedding the capacitors with the semiconductor body, the physicaldimensions of the power supply device can be reduced significantly. Asan example, while a device with conventional discrete capacitors andinductor may require device dimensions of length 2.9 mm, width 2.3 mm,and height 1 mm (including the discrete components), the same devicewith embedded capacitors achieves dimensions of length 2.0 mm, width<1.5mm (for instance 1,0 mm), and height 1 mm (including a discreteinductor).

FIG. 3 summarizes the composition and the methodology of integrating thecapacitors with the semiconductor body, or generally with the electronicbody. In FIG. 3, semiconductor body 301 has a surface 301 a withconductive terminal pads 310 of the circuitry inside the semiconductorbody. For the example of a DC/DC converter, pads 310 include theterminals displayed in the diagram in FIG. 1 (V_(IN), V_(OUT), Enable,Ground, Mode Selection).

There are a plurality of features, which tie one or more capacitors tothe electronic body and physically embed the capacitors into body 301. AFIG. 3 illustrates, there is an insulating first polymeric film 302,which covers the body surface 301 a except the terminal pads 310. Firstfilm 302 is adhesive; the adhesive character is indicated in FIG. 3 bytacky extra film 302 a.

Adhering to first film 302 is a sheet 320 of high-density capacitiveelements, which have with first and second capacitor terminals. Thefirst terminal is a metal foil 321 attached to the first polymeric filmand the second terminal a conductive polymeric compound 324. Thethickness 329 of sheet 320, together with first insulating film 302 andsecond insulating film 303, is approximately 50 μm.

The sheet of capacitive elements comprises a metal foil 321, which isthe first terminal of the capacitor (sometimes referred as the anode).In touch with foil 321 is a porous conglomerate of sintered metalparticles 322. The particle surfaces are covered with a dielectric skin323, which can be created by oxidation of the particle metal or bycoating the particles with an insulating material. As FIG. 3 shows, thevoids and pores between the dielectric skin-covered sintered metalparticles are filled by a conductive polymeric material 324. Conductivepolymer 324 forms the sheet side opposite the metal film 321 and servesas second terminal of the capacitor (sometimes referred to as thecathode). Due to a density of approximately 200 pF/cm² or less and acapacitor stability up to 125° C., the sheet is operable as ahigh-density capacitor with metal film 321 as first terminal, conductivepolymer 324 as second terminal, and dielectric skin 323 of the metalparticles as insulator.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment wherein capacitor sheet 320 has sets ofconductive through-hole vias. The first set holes, generally designated331, reaches the metal foil 321; the second set holes, generallydesignated 332, reaches the body terminals pads 310, and the third setholes, generally designated 333, reaches the conductive polymericcompound 324, and potentially partially contacts the sintered metalparticles 322. The conductive through-hole vias of the three sets sharesome common features.

As FIG. 3 shows, an insulating second polymeric film 303 lines thesidewalls of the holes. Polymeric film 303 also planarizes the sheetsurface between the holes. The processes for applying film 303 andopening of the through-hole vias are described below. After the processof opening the through-polymer vias in the polymeric film 303, the viasare made conductive by filling the through-polymer vias between thepolymeric sidewalls with metal. FIG. 3 includes the process ofdepositing a layer of seed metal 340 over the sidewalls of the openedholes. In FIG. 3, seed layer 340 is patterned so that it covers onlynarrow areas surrounding each hole. It should be noted that the shape ofactual through-polymer vias may deviate from the cylindrical shape withvertical sidewalls depicted in FIG. 3; for example, the hole sidewallsmay have conical shape.

In the embodiments of FIGS. 4A and 4B, seed layer 340 has been patternedso that the patterning allows the formation of redistribution traces 341and attachment pads 342 on the surface of first insulator film 303.FIGS. 4A and 4B includes a plurality of conductive through-polymer vias(of set 332) reaching terminals pads 310 of body 301. For these vias,metal 432 has been plated (about 3 μm thick) onto the patterned seedlayer to fill the through-polymer vias and thicken the attachment pads342. The preferred plated metal 432 is copper. In FIG. 4A, solder balls460 are attached to the thickened pads. In FIG. 4B, wire ball bonds 461are attached to the thickened pads.

As FIGS. 4A and 4B show, some redistribution traces 341 connect from athrough-polymer via reaching a body terminal to a conductivethrough-polymer via reaching metal foil 302, the first terminal (anode)of the capacitor. Other redistribution traces 341 connect from athrough-polymer via reaching another body terminal to a conductivethrough-polymer via reaching the conductive polymeric compound 324, thesecond terminal (cathode) of the capacitor.

Another embodiment of the invention is a method for batch fabricatingelectronic systems, such as power supply systems, which are integratedwith embedded capacitors. As depicted in FIG. 5A, the method starts byproviding a semiconductor wafer 501 with embedded electronic bodies,such as integrated circuits, power blocks, or power stages. Integratedin the wafer surface are conductive contact pads of the electronicbodies.

In the next process, depicted in FIG. 5B, an insulating first polymericfilm 502 is laminated across the wafer surface 501 a. A preferredmaterial is an epoxy-based polymer with a filler and high modulus. Firstpolymeric film 502 is adhesive; the adhesive property is indicated inFIG. 5B by tacky extra film 502 a.

FIGS. 5C illustrates the next processes. A sheet 520 of high densitycapacitive elements is provided. One side of sheet 520 is formed as afoil 521 of a metal such as tantalum or a metal readily forming uniformand stable oxides. Foil 521 is in touch with a porous conglomerate ofsintered particles 522 of the same metal; as an example, the sinteredparticles may be tantalum particles. The particle surfaces are coveredwith a dielectric skin 523, which may be formed as an oxide of the metalsuch as tantalum. Alternatively, the skin may be a thin layer of atemperature-stable insulating material. The opposite side of sheet 520is formed by a conductive polymeric material 524, which is dispensed tofill the pores and voids between the particles. Sheet 520 is operable asa capacitor, which has metal 521 as its first terminal, the conductivepolymer 524 as its second terminal, and the dielectric skin 523 of themetal particles as the insulator between the terminals. More detail ofthe methods for high-density capacitor sheet 520 is described in U.S.Pat. No. 8,084,841 B2, issued on Dec. 27, 2011 (Pulugurtha et al,“Systems and Methods for Providing High-Density Capacitors”); an U.S.Pat. No. 8,174,017 B2, issued on May 8, 2012 (Pulugurtha et al.,“Integrating Three-Dimensional High Capacitance Density Structures”).

As shown in FIG. 5C, sheet 520 is attached by its metal foil 521 ontothe adhesive first polymeric film 502.

FIG. 5D depicts an alternative process for providing high densitycapacitive elements. In FIG. 5D, the metallic foil 521 a carries theattached porous conglomerates of sintered particles as discretepre-etched elements rather than as continuous layer as in FIG. 5C. Thediscrete elements are separated by via-holes of a first diameter 601(the same diameter as produced by the process of FIG. 6A), while outsidethe via-holes the foil surrounding the elements remains as supportivecarrier—indicated by the dashed line 521 b. As shown in FIG. 5D, sheet 5ao is attached by its metal foil 521 a onto the adhesive first polymericfilm 502.

FIG. 6A illustrates the process of opening a set of via-holes of a firstdiameter 601 into sheet 520. Holes 631 of the first set are reaching themetal foil 521, and holes 632 of the second set are reaching the wafercontact pads 510. A preferred method for drilling the openings is a UVlaser.

In the next process, depicted in FIG. 6B, an insulating second polymericfilm 503 is laminated across the wafer so that the polymeric materialfills the via-holes of the first diameter 601 and planarizes the sheetsurface.

After curing the polymeric material, the next process, shown in FIG. 6C,opens sets of through-polymer via holes of a second diameter 602 intothe second polymeric film 503. The second diameter 602 is smaller thanthe first diameter 601, and the sidewalls of these via holes arecomposed of the insulating second polymeric material. To the third setbelong the holes 651, which are nested inside the first set holes 631;holes 651 reach the metal foil 521. To the fourth set belong the holes652, which are nested inside the second set holes 632; holes 652 reach acontact pad 510. To the fifth set belong holes 653, which reach theconductive polymeric surface 524. A preferred method for drilling theholes is a UV laser.

In FIG. 6D, the above processes are modified for adapting them to thediscrete pre-etched elements of porous conglomerates of sinteredparticles. As illustrated in FIG. 6D, in a process analogous to theprocess of FIG. 6B, an insulating second polymeric film 503 is laminatedacross the wafer so that the polymeric material fills the via-holes ofthe first diameter 601 and planarizes the sheet surface. After curingthe polymeric material, the process of FIG. 6E (analogous to the processof FIG. 6C) opens sets of through-polymer via holes of a second diameter602 into the second polymeric film 503, as well as into the firstpolymeric film 502. The second diameter 602 is smaller than the firstdiameter 601, and the sidewalls of these via holes are composed mostlyof the insulating second polymeric material, and partially also of thefirst polymeric material. To the third set belong the holes 651, whichare nested inside the first set holes 631; holes 651 reach the metalfoil 521. To the fourth set belong the holes 652, which are nestedinside the second set holes 632; holes 652 reach a contact pad 510. Tothe fifth set belong holes 653, which reach the conductive polymericsurface 524. A preferred method for drilling the holes is a UV laser.

In the next processes, the through-polymer vias are metallized. FIG. 7Ashows the preferred process of depositing a metal seed layer 540 ontothe sidewalls and bottoms of the through-polymer vias and the surface ofthe second polymeric film 503; the preferred technology is electrolessplating. An alternative technology involves sputtering. The preferredmetal is a refractory metal such as titanium or tungsten, which adhereswell to polymeric compounds. FIG. 7B illustrates the process ofpatterning seed metal layer 540 in order to create redistribution traces541 and attachment pads on the surface of the second polymeric film 503.

In the process depicted in FIG. 7C, a relatively thick layer 532 ofmetal such as copper is plated onto the patterned seed layer to fill thethrough-polymer vias and thicken the attachment pads and redistributiontraces. A preferred thickness of the redistribution traces is about 3μm.

In yet another process, the deposition of the relatively thick metallayer is following right after the deposition of the seed metal layer,while the process of patterning is applied concurrently to the thickmetal layer and the seed metal layer.

In an alternative process, the deposition of the metallic seed layer maybe replaced by activating the sidewall surfaces of the polymericmaterials before the 3 μm thick copper layer is deposited by electrolessplating.

Additional processes involve the attachment of solder balls or wire ballbonds, as shown for example in FIGS. 4A and 4B, and further the step ofsingulating the semiconductor wafer into discrete units. Each unitincludes a system of one or more active semiconductor chips embeddedwith one or more capacitors composed of high density capacitiveelements, and a plurality of attachment pads for external components.

Following the processes in the sequence described above for implementinghigh-density capacitive structures with conductive through-polymer viasinto semiconductor chips, and simplifying in the drawings the capacitorstructure into uniform layers for the first and second terminals and theintermediate insulator, a portion of an exemplary embodiment with solderballs can be represented as shown in FIG. 8. In the embodiment 800 ofFIG. 8, the high-density capacitive structures are embedded in theredistribution layers on the surface of the semiconductor chip. Thedesignations of device 800 correspond to analogous designations in FIG.4. Semiconductor chip 801 has a surface with conductive terminal pads810. The levels of parallel first insulating polymeric film 802 andsecond insulating polymeric film 803 are interconnected by metallic vias804 and allow an extension into a redistribution layer 841 to a terminal832 with metallization for attaching a solder ball 860. The length ofthe redistribution layer between two adjacent terminals 832 is utilizedto accommodate the high-density capacitive structure indicated by firstterminal (anode, metal) 821, second terminal (cathode, conductivepolymer) 824, and insulator layer 823.

The process flow for fabricating device 800 follows the sequencedescribed above. However, when in another embodiment 900 (see FIG. 9)the high-density capacity structure (first terminal 921, second terminal924, insulator layer 923) can occupy the place of a depopulated solderball, it is advisable that the second insulating polymeric film 903 islaminated right after the lamination of the first insulating polymericfilm 902, and before the attachment of the sheet of high-densitycapacitive elements.

In yet another embodiment, such as device 1000 shown in FIG. 10,semiconductor chip 1001 may have conductive through-silicon vias (TSVs)1080, which enable contacts to structures on the active chip side 1001 afrom the opposite and generally passive chip side 1001 b. In thesecases, it may be helpful for the assembly of systems on boards to placethe one or more capacitors on chip side 1001 b and connect the capacitorto the structures on chip side 1001 a with the help of the TSVs 1080.FIG. 10 shows an elongated capacitor with first terminal 1021, secondterminal 1024, and insulator 1023 extended between adjacent TSVs. Forthe fabrication flow of device 100, it is advisable that the secondinsulating polymeric film 1003 is laminated right after the laminationof the first insulating polymeric film 1002, and before the attachmentof the sheet of high-density capacitive elements.

As FIG. 4B indicates, high density capacitors can be embedded insemiconductor chips, which use wire ball bonding on top of the embeddedcapacitor to connect the chip terminals to substrates such as metallicleadframes. Due to the bonding wires, such electronic bodies need to beencapsulated in protective packages.

In addition to the exemplary power systems with DC/DC converters as theelectronic bodies described above, the embedding of high densitycapacitors according to the invention can be applied to flybackconverters, DC/DC boost converters and isolated converters, chargepumps, fuel gauges, power stages with drivers and load switches, voltagereferences, current references, current sensors, and generally anyelectronic systems using capacitors.

It should be stressed that the conductive through-polymer vias, whichenable the embedding of the capacitive structures in semiconductorchips, are free of thermomechanical stresses due to differences in CTE(coefficients of thermal expansion). This absence of stress sensitivityis a significant technical advantage of the invention compared to theconventional TSVs (through-silicon vias) 1080 illustrated in FIG. 10,which are known to be plagued by thermomechanical stress problems.

While this invention has been described in reference to illustrativeembodiments, this description is not intended to be construed in alimiting sense. Various modifications and combinations of theillustrative embodiments, as well as other embodiments of the invention,will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to thedescription. As an example, the invention applies not only to a chipwith integrated circuits, but also to devices with any type ofsemiconductor chip. For instance, the capacitor sheet may be attached tothe surface of a chip, which is assembled on a leadframe pad, wirebonded to leads, and encapsulated in a protective packaging compound.

As another example, the method can be extended to capacitors embedded inan arbitrary number of semiconductor chips integrated into a system. Thecapacitors may be embedded inside the system or on either surface of thesystem.

As another example, the capacitance value of capacitors may be modifiedby varying the process of creating the porous structure, thus allowingto use the same geometrical capacitor values yet with differentcapacitance values—an inexpensive way of using available packagestructures with different electrical values.

In yet another example, the metals, insulators, geometries andthicknesses of the capacitors can be selected as a function of the sizeof the chip so that specific product goals of the assembled package canbe achieved such as final thickness, mechanical strength, minimumwarpage, prevention of cracking, compatibility with pick-and-placemachines, and minimum electrical parasitics.

In yet another example, the high-density capacitive elements can beadjusted and positioned so that electrical characteristics such asoperational frequency and frequency stability can be optimized.

In yet another example, the properties of the capacitive structures mayhave unique sensitivity to physical parameters such as stress, moisture,pressure, irradiation, chemical exposure, or others which may bediscovered so that the electrical properties of the capacitivestructures can be measured and the structures can be used as a sensor.

It is therefore intended that the appended claims encompass any suchmodifications or embodiments.

We claim:
 1. A method for fabricating an electronic system comprising:providing a semiconductor wafer having embedded electronic bodies, thewafer surface having conductive contact pads of the electronic bodies;laminating an insulating first polymeric film across the wafer surface;providing a sheet of capacitive elements, one sheet side formed as ametal foil in touch with metal particles, surfaces of the metalparticles covered with a dielectric skin, and the opposite sheet sideformed by a conductive polymeric material between the metal particles,the sheet operable as a capacitor having the metal as first terminal,the conductive polymer as second terminal, and the dielectric skin ofthe metal particles as insulator; attaching the sheet by its metal foilonto the first polymeric film; opening sets of via-holes of a firstdiameter into the sheet, the first set holes reaching the metal foil,and the second set holes reaching the wafer contact pads; laminating aninsulating second polymeric film across the wafer, filling the via-holesof the first diameter and planarizing the sheet surface; opening sets ofthrough-polymer vias of a second diameter into the second polymericfilm, the second diameter being smaller than the first diameter, thethird set holes, nested inside the first set holes, reaching the metalfoil, the fourth set holes, nested inside the second set holes, reachinga contact pad, and a fifth set holes reaching the conductive polymericsurface; depositing a metal seed layer onto sidewalls and bottoms of thethrough-polymer vias and the surface of the second polymeric film,creating redistribution traces and attachment pads on the surface; andplating metal onto the patterned seed layer to fill the through-polymervias.
 2. The method of claim 1 further including the process ofconcurrently curing the first and second polymeric materials.
 3. Themethod of claim 1 further including the process of singulating the waferinto discrete units, each unit including a system of one or more activesemiconductor chips embedded with one or more capacitors composed ofhigh density capacitive elements, and a plurality of attachment pads forexternal components.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronicbodies are selected from a group including power supply systems having aDC/DC converter including a synchronous Buck converter, flybackconverters, DC/DC boost converters, isolated converters, charge pumps,fuel gauges, power stages with drivers and load switches, voltagereferences, current references, and current sensors.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the dielectric skin is coherent and free of voids. 6.The method of claim 5, wherein the dielectric skin is an insulatingmetal oxide layer.
 7. The method of claim 3, wherein the externalcomponents include an inductor.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein themetal foil is suitable to oxidize uniformly and adhere to polymericcompounds.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein, the sets of via holes has acylindrical shape.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein, the sets of viaholes has a conical shape.
 11. The method of claim 1 wherein, thecapacitor has a thickness of at least 50 μm.
 12. The method of claim 2,wherein the metal particles have a capacitive density of approximatelyequal to or less than 200 μF/cm².
 13. The method of claim 2, wherein themetal particles have a capacitor stability of up to 125° C.